Family - Setra

08 | Setra Best in Class
Setra Family News | 09
A new PowerShift transmission gears up for launch:
Unique worldwide
At the beginning of 2009, the GO 240-8 PowerShift transmission was introduced to the market,
setting an all-new standard in gear shifting comfort in coaches. Since then, the transmission has
more than proven itself. In fact, it has become indispensible to both drivers and operators.
W
hen you drive a Setra with an
automatic eight-gear GO 240-8
transmission for the first time,
you’ll be amazed by how easily you can
maneuver a heavy triple-axle coach and
how elegantly it performs. When the system
was launched in early 2009, the market
feedback was, to say the least, enthusiastic.
Heinz Schlatzer, owner of Schlatzer-Reisen
in Bärnbach in the German Styria region, has
been the proud owner of a Setra
S 416 HDH with an automated GO 240-8
eight-gear transmission since April this
year, and he is convinced it represents
a quantum leap in coach technology:
“PowerShift gives me, as an operator,
many benefits: a long service life, great
cost-efficiency, as well as maximum driving
and operating comfort and convenience.”
The GO 240-8 boasts many features which
have proven themselves thousands of times
in practical use. Its operating life of 1.5 million
km speaks volumes. This outstanding
performance is enabled by state-of-the-art,
highly accurate manufacturing technologies
developed to fulfil Setra’s Best in Class
promise. The GO 240-8 PowerShift is the
only automated transmission worldwide
with progressive transmission stepping
conceived specially for coaches and buses.
This avoids unnecessary gear changes,
while enabling a level of driving comfort
that you would expect from a premium
sedan. The transmission is manufactured in
the Gaggenau production facilities, Daimler’s
competency center for mechanical and
automated transmissions.
All switching and clutch operations are
taken over by the PowerShift’s automation
processes. It combines the highest driving
dynamic with reduced tractive power interruptions,
while ensuring extremely low
noise levels. This facilitates the driver’s
task while delivering the greatest possible
driving comfort to guests. And, operators
capitalise on the many economic benefits
the system offers. For example, bus operator
Fritz Hinterberger from Reiseparadies
Kastler in Ottensheim, Upper Austria, is
also very satisfied with the GO 240-8:
“Since the PowerShift always works in the
most optimal gear, fuel consumption is
considerably reduced. We see this very
clearly with our Setra.”
And now, at the end of 2011, with the
GO 250-8 PowerShift 3 for maximum
2,500 Nm, the next PowerShift generation
is gearing up to hit the market. And expectations
are high. A “creep mode”, analogue
to converter automatic transmissions, is
all new. Simply by pressing on the brake
pedal, the driver can maneuver with more
sensitivity than ever. The clutch process
takes place via a centrically positioned,
pneumatically operated coupling cylinder.
Mechanical parts such as the release fork,
release bearing and clutch booster have
been eliminated. The new secondary water
retarder from Voith, also called Aquatarder,
with its braking torque of up to 3,500 Nm,
delivers the highest possible safety for driver
and passengers. As braking and cooling
medium, it works with the engine cooling
water, no longer requiring the oil/water
heat exchanger and resulting oil changes.
Another benefit: the dry weight of the new
transmission has been reduced by 20 kg
to 285 kg.
The new PowerShift gearshift, which uses a
steering column lever instead of the previously
used joystick, is completely new. It
includes all functions and is easy to operate.
The driver can switch between D/N/R
driving modes, and between automatic and
manual gear shifting as needed. He can
access manual gear shifting by briefly
pulling the lever towards him, and the
retarder can be regulated downwards as
usual by moving the lever. Schlatzer-Reisen
is looking forward to trying out the new
steering column lever. “It’s hard to imagine
that seemingly perfect technology can
actually be improved on”, says Heinz
Schlatzer.
The transformation of Merz Travel:
The art of travel
Merz Travel in Gnadenberg offers tours with a focus on art and cultural highlights. As you would
expect, the standards and expectations in terms of coach safety and comfort are high.
erz Travel has been a Setra customer
M right from the beginning. In fact, the
company purchased its first Setra coach
back in the fifties. Today, Merz Travel has a
fleet of 18 vehicles – all of which are now
premium Setra coaches. A Setra S 9 is also
available for special applications, such as
promotional tours or excursions.
Since joining the company’s management
team, Managing Director Patricia Ehbauer
has refocused the corporate strategy away
from line services towards more exclusive
tourism applications. From her perspective,
there simply does not exist a real alternative
to the Setra brand: “You can only survive
and succeed over the long term if your
spectrum of services is “authentic”, and if
Preventing fuel theft:
the company and its offering match perfectly.
As an innovative tour operator, we offer
exclusive cultural tours focusing on art and
music events which are of interest to a discerning
target group. You can’t show up in
front of a five-star hotel with a second-class
bus. You need a German-built, premium
coach – and ideally, it should be a Setra.”
The relationship between the Merz company
and Setra is a very special one indeed. The
two companies have been working closely
together since the fifties. Setra’s Hermann
General Distributor has been taking care of
and supporting Merz Travel for 25 years –
with Martin Hermann now in the second
generation. Patricia Ehbauer looks back
fondly at an experience that contributed to
binding the two companies even more
closely: “In the nineties, during an Ascension
holiday, one of our Drögmöller coaches
broke down in Italy. And of course, all
coaches and drivers were already booked
out for the Friday. We were able to find one
driver, but he wouldn’t have been able to
drive the whole distance on his own. When
Mr Hermann found out about our problem,
he didn’t hesitate for a moment. He interrupted
his holiday and, together with our
driver, brought a Setra to Italy so that our
guests could continue their trip. That’s just
the way it was. As soon as a problem arose,
Mr Hermann was there for us – and that’s
the way it had also been with his fatherin-law.”
A small investment with great impact
It’s a sad fact indeed that fuel theft from coaches and buses is on the rise. Setra now has a brilliantly
simple yet highly effective solution to prevent fuel theft from taking place.
oo many coach drivers and owners
T have experienced the frustration of
returning to their bus in a parking lot or at
a highway service station, only to realise
that their previously filled fuel tank is
empty. The problem is most often not a
leak, but rather theft – where the tank has
been tapped with a hose and pumped
empty.
In response to customer requests, Setra
created an ingenious system to prevent fuel
theft. And now, with the ever increasing
cost of fuel, demand for the device is growing.
It is as simple as it is effective: a grid
insert in the fuel tank filler neck prevents
the insertion of a hose to pump out fuel.
Mounting the device promises not to break
anyone’s budget and can take place directly
at the tank supplier’s facilities.